Leaf-stemming device



Dec. 24, 1929. c. F. LINDH 1,740,611

' LEAF STEMMING DEVICE Filed May 9, 1928 1Nv TQR M 7;

BY 1 I @2 6237 ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 24, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES F. LINDH, or BROOKLYN, new YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD TOBACCO A STEMMER COMPANY, A CORPORATION on VIRGINIA LEAF-STEMMIN G DEVICE Application filed May 9,

: ation. Another object is to provide a machine which is simple and convenient to operate, in which one handle may be operated to actuate a single one or a plurality of de- Vices at will, in accordance with the pressure 1-5 applied to the handle.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device, with a stern inserted;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the lever in depressed position with the knife notches opened and the wiping pad raised into cleaning position, the dotted lines showing the closed position after the hand is removed;

and

Fig. 5 is a front elevation showing the operation of the device, the two halves of a to- ;bacco leaf being partly stripped off the stem. In carrying the invention into effect, there is provided a pair of knives coacting to engage the stem of the leaf between them, together with means to separate the knives and a wiper to wipe the knives and mechanism for actuating the knife separating means and the wiper to first separate and then wipe said knives. In the best constructions, this mechanism includes two parts movable relative to each other to actuate the wiper and has a unit to actuate the separating means and a spring resisting said unitary movement and a stronger spring resisting the relative movement. In the best constructions also, there ,is provided a lever supporting one of the knives, which is manually operable to separate the knives, and means yieldingly pressino the knives together.

eferring to the drawings, a stand 6, which is intended to be permanently fastened to a table or workbench, has a lever 7 pivoted on a cap screw 8, the lever being held at a rest position on stop pin 9 by means of the weak tension spring 10 which is stretched between a pin 11 of lever 7 inserted into the stand 6 for ready adjustment of the tension. A disc-shaped knife 13 is attached by means of a screw 14 to the stand 6, while another disc-shaped knife 15 is fastened by a screw 16 to the lever 7. These knives are provided with suitable sharpened notches around their circumferences and are mounted, by means of pins 17 and 18, inserted in stand 6 and lever 7 which engage unused notches of the knives at such positions that one of the notches of one knife registers with a notch of the other. To clean the notches, the lever 19 carried by the knife supporting lever 7 is pivoted on stud 20 and has, at its free end, a felt pad 2 which is preferably kept moist in any suitable way, positioned to wipe the knives. The compression spring 22, which is considerably stronger than spring 10, is placed in recesses provided for this purpose in the forward ends of the levers 7 and 19, and keeps the latter in its normal position with the pad out of engagement with the notched portion of the knives.

Adjacent to the registering notches, the stand 6 and the lever 7 are cut away so as to clear the notches, and the upper edges of the remaining portions are shaped to form the converging guideways 23 and 24 leading to the registering notches. After pressing the handle portion of lever 19 lightly to move lever 7 to separate the knives, the stem is inserted by pushing its butt-end down between these guideways into the knife notches. Releasing the lever 19 closes the notches over the stem and the leaf is stripped by pulling the stem transversely through said notches in the directon of the arrow shown in Fig. 5, with the right hand, while the left, after having guided the leaf part way into the notches, is free to pick up another leaf. Before gripping the butt of the next leaf preparatory to inserting it in the device with the right hand, the operator actuates the handle of lever 19 downwardly with the result, since spring 10 is made weaker than spring 22, that the levers and one of several pins 12 7 and 19 are first moved as a unit until lever 7 is arrested by stop pin 25, and then the lever 19 is moved relatively to the lever 7 causing the Wiping pad to pass across the cutting notches, thus cleaning from the edges of the notchesthe gumif-romethe leaf: andiany v scraps left fromithelast" stemming andLlield to the blades by said gum.

a It will be seen that operation of one hand lever 19 serves to actuate lever 7 to separate the knives and in addition serves to actuate the cleaning device 21, or not, dependingon Whether a firm pressure or light pressure is given to said hand lever; By this arrange- 'ment the knives are necessarily separated to openthe notchedl portions beforethe Wiping: action ofv the felt pad, whereby the scraps leftin the notchesmay be more-readily wiped out through the spaeebetaveen the knives.

Thecuttingredges of theaknives sever the t-W-o halvesioftheleafi from the stem and,.as long,as the'edgesremain sharp,vmake a clean cut'zwith'out injuring, the leaf: After one set ofi notches: has worn too dullv to make -a vneat w cut,,the nextset is put into actionby loosening screivs-14l and16, and turningboth: discs by 0I16=110l3Gl1',-l3l1B pins=l7 and18 servingto automatically secure their registration With one another. After all the notches have been aused:inrthisananner, the wornzknife discs are replacedby anew: set,,and the old discs are reshanpened for future use;

What is claimed is I. l na-tleafestemming device, thecombina- 3tion Witha pairs of: separable knives coact-ing.

to-engage therstemibetween.them; of a Wiper to- Wipe the knives andi means operating, to

first" separate said. knives and then actuate said Wiper.

2-1- In=a leaf stemming device, the-combinaton with a: pair'of-I separable knives coacting.

to engage-the :stem1betaveen them, of a Wiper to Wipe the knlves an'dimeansoperatlngz to first: separate said knives and then actuate gm-fiaid: wiper,- saidzlneans including twoparts movable relatively toeach other to actuate the Wiper and asa-unitto separate the. knives,

aaspringresistingnsaid unitaryimovement and a strongen springresisting; said relative aar movement.

3. In: a leaf-stemming: device, the combinationnvith pair of: knives coactingi'to engage thestem between them, of a: lever sup- 7 portingaone-of-said knives and'manually opfisi-erable'to separate the k-nives,-.meansyield ingly; pressing therknives together, a cleaning device fon cleaning. the knives, and common. meansffor manually-operating saidlever andsaid; cleaning device.

4; In a leaf-stemmingi device,. the combination: with: apair of" knives -coacting; to engagerthe'stem betWeen:tl1em,..of a-lever supporting one. ofsaidknive's and manually operable to." separate the knives, means yield- 662-.ing1y-pressing: the knivestogether, a hand lever pivoted on the knife supporting lever, means to cause movement of the levers as a unit followed by relative movement of the levers on actuation of the hand lever alone, and a cleaning device for cleaning the knives carriedby saidhand lever ;v

5.. Ina laf-stemrning-dVice,theficombination with a pair of knives coacting to engage the stem between them, of a lever. supporting, one of said; knives and manually operable to separate the knives; and means yieldingly pressing the-knives together, said knives being provided With a series of notches and means-permitting positioning of the knives to locate any one of the notches in stem en- 80 gagingi'position.

6.. In a leafrstemmingdevice, im the com bination witlr. a: pair? ofz knives coacting to? engage the stem between them; ofi means for: separatingthe knives, means for cleaning: the.- knives, a handle and'mechanism actuatedby saidhandle for operating at willztheseparate ingzmeans alone, or both' ofr sa-idtmeans:

In:- testimony whereof, Ii have signedi my name to this specification;

CHARLES Fl 

